Bearing assemblies are used in a variety of applications. One type of known bearing assembly is an axial bearing, which includes cylindrical rolling elements with a cage to guide the cylindrical rolling elements as they roll between an inner bearing ring and an outer bearing ring. Known cages for axial bearing assemblies provide varying guidance and retention features. When these guidance features fail to provide adequate guidance to the rolling elements, the rolling elements skew or pivot causing friction and lowering the efficiency of the bearing assembly. Some of the known cages include webs extending between a radially inner ring and a radially outer ring of the cage. Depending upon the stresses experienced at the connection area between the webs and rings these webs can fracture resulting in failure of the bearing assembly.
It would be desirable to provide a cage with improved rolling element guidance and retention elements that further reduce skewing of the cylindrical rolling elements within the pockets of the bearing cage, and provide increased strength at the connection area between the webs and the rings.